Recap: Saturday, 31st October 2009. Halloween. (Including spoilers for Code of Conduct !)

~ Trick or Treating ! ~

"There are already some kids out trick or treating." Declared Abby as she shut the front door behind her and walked into the kitchen.

"I know, Ziva saw them too. She kept bugging me for the rest of the way, on when we finally go, too." Gibbs smirked. Due to his driving style they made it to his house twenty minutes before Abby.

"Speaking of Ziva... Where's she?"

"Garden, she's getting the second pumpkin."

"By herself?" She leaned on the kitchen counter, next to where the agent worked.

"It's a small one," Gibbs stated as he filled the chopped and scraped out pumpkin pieces into a large pot.

"You making pumpkin soup?" Abby looked around the kitchen, finding various ingredients sitting near by.

"Yap, ol' family recipe. My mother used to make it every Halloween."

Abby smiled, "That's so sweet..." She gave him a short hug.

"Making some Jack O'Lanterns, too. More or less..." He regarded their first pumpkin. It hadn't been easy to cut out the grimace in the right way, when when dealing with a child, who wants to help. In the end the pumpkin had ended up with cuts where no cuts should have been. Still, the grimace, which Ziva had drawn on the pumpkin beforehand, was recognizable.

"Well, it looks distorted, but which Jack O'Lantern doesn't?

"You try it with having her hand on the knife too," Gibbs smirked, looking at the backdoor just in time to see Ziva returning.

"Hey Zee! Let me help you!" Abby took the pumpkin from Mini-Ziva and set it on the kitchen counter.

"Toda!" Ziva grinned and stretched herself to get the black marker from another counter, climbing on a chair, close to the newly brought in pumpkin, afterward.

"Can I help you guys somehow?" Abby looked around, trying to find something to occupy herself.

"You can cut out the top, so Ziva can scrape the insides out. She wants to do this on her own this time, right kid?"

The little girl looked up from her 'art' and smiled. "Uh huh!"

Abby grinned and clapped into her hands, "Let's get started then!"

With two more or less perfect Jack O'Lanterns sitting on Gibbs' porch, it was time to dress up. While the older agent cleaned up the mess they had made out of the kitchen, Abby helped Ziva.

"See, now you're clean again," Abby set the hair drier aside, for the moment letting the curlers in, which she had placed in Mini-Ziva's hair.

Ziva pouted, "No smelly!"

The goth laughed, "Maybe, but you had pieces of pumpkin all over you."

"Did not..." mumbled the little girl, trotting over to her bed.

"Come on, don't pout." Abby had briefly left the room to get Ziva's costume out of Gibbs' closet. Since he hadn't wanted his shrunken agent to wear it all the time, before it was even Halloween, he had safely locked it away there.

The little girl's mood immediately brightened and she quickly made her way to Abby.

"Gimme!"

Abby frowned, "That's gimme please."

Ziva scrunched up her nose, "Gimme please." She repeated in her best behaved voice.

"That's better," Abby grinned and helped her small friend into the knee-length dress.

"You look so cute," she declared as she adjusted the fancy fabric, lace and details. Abby stood back and took in the sight before her. The dress suited Ziva perfectly.

It was a mixture of black and purple. The top half of the dress was more black and the long black sleeves flared out at the bottom, with purple lace around the bottom of it giving it a medieval-ish effect. The middle of the top half was purple satin and the collar on the dress stuck up, giving the costume it's typical look.

The bottom half of the dress was more purple satin with intricate black lace patterns and a lace trimming going around the bottom of the dress. Ziva wore also a black woolen pantyhose, which would make sure that she wouldn't feel too cold when they went out, trick or treating. Black knee-high boots would complete the outfit later.

"Now to remove those curlers and to add the special effect. Then I got an idea..." Abby grinned at her friend, who looked curious at her.

"'ibbs!" Mini-Ziva jumped out from her room, right into the hallway were Gibbs just happened to walk along.

Briefly startled the agent swiftly caught on and played along. "Ah!"

"Me vamp," she hissed, baring her false fangs.

"Abs! Help me, we got a vampire in the house," Gibbs called out, laughing as the small girl continued to approach him while he walked backwards.

A moment later Abby appeared in the doorway, "Sorry Gibbs, she already bit me." She showed him the bite marks on her neck, to which Gibbs raised his eyebrows.

"So no one is gonna save me?" He asked playfully.

"Lo," Ziva giggled, finally having cornered Gibbs as he had reached the end of the hallway.

"Well then," Gibbs smirked and went to sit on the floor, laughing as Ziva jumped into his arms and hugged him around his neck. "So what does this makes me now? A vampire?"

Abby shrugged, "That or a donor." She grinned, "It was a good idea to buy those fake bite marks, they'll look good on you!"

Gibbs groaned, causing Ziva to have another fit of giggles.

The silver-haired agent regarded his neck in the bathroom mirror. "How did I ended up like this," he silently wondered as his gaze drifted to the little girl sitting next to him on the bathroom counter.

Mini-Ziva smiled widely at him.

"Zee, sit still!" Abby declared, taking a washcloth to remove the slanting line she had just drew on the little girl's face.

"T'ats bowring!"

Gibbs smiled reassuring, "She's nearly done, right Abs?"

"Yeah," Abby concentrated on drawing the fake blood trail on the corner of Ziva's mouth anew. "Now it's done." She picked a small hand mirror from the counter and showed it to her small friend. "Good?"

Mini-Ziva slowly touched the drawing as she regarded her pale image in the mirror. After Abby had made her hair looking extra curly and had pulled the top half back, so that you could see her natural widow's peak, Abby had then proceed to apply a light water-washable powder makeup, finished with dark red lips.

Although Gibbs had only agreed half heartily to so much makeup, he had at some point admitted that the costume wouldn't look finished without it. Ultimately giving Abby permission to style Ziva like she thought it would be good.

"Looks nice," commented the agent after Mini-Ziva still kept staring at herself in the mirror. "At least no black lipstick..."

His comment had snapped Ziva out of her trance and she finally grinned widely at Abby. "I like!"

Abby grinned back, "Now you look like a real vampiress!"

"We go now?" Ziva looked at Gibbs, who shook his head.

"We need to wait for your friends to arrive first."

Ziva sighed, dangling her legs off the counter in boredom.

"They should be here soon," reassured the agent as he lifted Mini-Ziva off the counter, "Why don't you go and bring your candy bucket downstairs?"

"Looks like something a dog would like to eat," commented Gibbs surly, once the little girl was out of earshot.

"That's a plush black bat candy bucket with wings, Gibbs!" Abby protested with a smile. "It even has little fangs."

Gibbs only rolled his eyes and left the bathroom in order to go downstairs.

"You know... I still think she would have gotten lots of candy if we..."

"Abs!" Gibbs interrupted her in a warning tone of voice, "Don't start again..."

(Flashback - A few days earlier)

"Abby, no."

"But Gibbs."

"No." He glared at her.

"She would sooooooooooooo get much candy from everyone."

"I'm not doing that to Ziva."

"Gibbs..." Abby whined.

"Abby Scuito, for the last time, No!"

"It's just NCIS, what could happen there?"

"Pictures and films all over the place?" Gibbs stated with a raised eyebrow.

"We already took a bunch of photos!"

"NCIS personal didn't..."

"You really believe that no one made a picture of her? She's too cute not to do." Abby interrupted him.

Gibbs sighed, "No Abby. I've seen them doing so numerous times. But I won't let Ziva in there dressed up for Halloween!"

"But..."

"You think Ziva would appreciate it if she finds out later?" he interrupted her this time.

"I.." Abby gnawed her bottom lip, "No, probably not."

"Then let's keep it by the original plan."

"Okay." Defeated, Abby turned back to her computer, not sparring the silver haired agent a second glance.

(Flashback – End)

"'ibbs, look!"

"Ziva, what have I told you about opening the front door?"

"No do..." the little girl frowned, "But me see Max!"

Now Gibbs looked out of the open door too, seeing Max and his mother approach them. He directed his gaze back to Ziva, looking sternly at her, "Still, you're not going to open the door without someone being right beside you. No matter who's on the other side. Got it?"

"O'tay," she sighed.

"Good," he gave her a smile, "Then let's enjoy the next few hours." he whispered the last part, seeing their first guest approaching them – fast.

"Ziva!"

"Maxs!"

The boy came to a halt in front of them. He tentative reached out to Ziva, touching her chin where Abby had drawn a fake blood trail. "Cool!"

Gibbs chuckled, "Hello Max, captured a boat, yet?"

"Yep! I got lots of candy!"

"Our elderly neighbors let him raid most of their candy around midday." His mother elaborated as she joined the group, "Although I stored it away for the time being."

"Mrs. Jenkins," Gibbs nodded to the middle aged woman, "You found the way, okay?"

"Hello. Yes, you're description was perfect. Now I know how to get here on the 12th." She smiled as she saw Ziva in her costume, "You look really pretty Ziva."

The little girl grinned, "Toda!"

"Come on, let's play!" Max took Ziva's hand and together they hurried indoors.

"Hey, aren't you forgetting something?" Gibbs called after the pair.

Max stopped short and thought for a moment, hurrying back to his mother, "Bye mom!" He briefly let her hug him.

"Be good," she called after him as the boy run inside again.

"You're really okay with him staying till Sunday evening?" Mrs. Jenkins checked. While Max staying with a friend suited them well, since her husband and she needed to attend a business dinner of her husband's company, she was still unsure about it. Her son never had stayed overnight with someone else before. Not even with his grandparents.

"Yes and I'm sure he'll be okay. Don't worry." Gibbs reassured her as he watched the kids.

"Where's your room?" Max looked around the lower floor.

"Up," Ziva pointed to the second floor before leading him to her room.

Outside, Mrs. Jenkins had just left and Gibbs was about to close the door, after storing Max' bag and booster seat near the door, as another set of cars pulled up.

"Ziv! You better get back down here. Daniyel and Hanah are here!"

Fast and loud footfalls coming down the stairs behind him alerted him of his shrunken agent's return. Not bothering to scold her about running down the stairs so fast, he leaned down to Ziva as she stopped next to him, "I thought pirates are smelly," he whispered.

"Maxs no smelly!" She gave him a wide toothy smile – with fangs - as she impatiently waited for her friends to make it to the front door.

She momentarily frowned at her female friends' costume till Gibbs lightly nudged her. "Everybody likes different things," he reminded her whispering. "Don't be mean."

"What t'at?" She whispered back.

"Fairy." Gibbs answered just in time before Danyiel came running over, the shreds of his costume's bandages flying behind him.

"Shalom!" The boy immediately hugged Mini-Ziva, causing Gibbs' eyebrow to rose up.

Ziva giggled, -"You're a mummy!"-

-"Yes, but I'm a nice one. Are you a nice vampire?"- Daniyel puffed out his chest, clearly proud of his costume.

-"I bit 'ibbs!"- Mini-Ziva declared with a smile, -"And Abby!"-

Gibbs looked down at the two kids. His interest had been triggered as he heard his name. Although as he heard Abby's too and saw Ziva pointing at her neck he only could roll his eyes. Of course she would tell her friends about her 'victims'.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Gibbs." Hanah's mother greeted him as she and Daniyel's father came to a halt in front of him. Hanah, who had refused to walk by herself, clung to her mother.

After they had exchanged polite greetings, the agent's gaze drifted to Hanah, who had yet to let go of her mother.

"She's a bit grumpy today," sighed her mother, "I fear she might wants to go home in a few hours."

Gibbs smiled, "If that really the case, I'll bring her home."

Hanah's mother nodded, grateful not to be forced to drive another two hours extra, just to pick her child up again.

"Come on, Hanah. Let's play!" Max called, having come to the door also. Daniyel and Ziva nodded in agreement.

Tentatively, the girl relinquished her hold of her mother. "You're coming back?"

"Of course, Sweetie. And if you want to go home before then, Mr. Gibbs will bring you home. But try to enjoy the evening first. Alright?"

Hanah looked at Gibbs who nodded and then at her mother, "Love you, mommy." She wriggled out of her parent's arms and went to stand by her friends, who quickly shooed her away from the front door. They slightly feared that she would change her mind if she stood near her mother any longer.

"What do we do now?" Max asked.

"I want to see Ziva's room!" Daniyel exclaimed, before the others had even time to think about the question.

Mini-Ziva grinned. She was proud of her room and all the toys. Therefore showing it to her friends was quite alright. After all Gibbs had set up extra sleeping places in her room, so that her friends would be able to stay overnight.

"All there?" Abby asked as she entered the kitchen to which Gibbs had retreated after having said goodbye to the last parent. Before they went out he wanted to give the kids a change to acclimate. And he really needed to have another cup of coffee.

"Yep. Where were you?"

"Bathroom," she grinned at him, shaking her head slightly to make the Halloween bobble headband with it's miniature bats dance, "You like?"

Gibbs smirked and nipped on his coffee.

"With Vance banning costumes from the office, what better opportunity do I get to wear something like this?"

"Bet no one would think twice about it if you had worn this in your lab, today."

Abby looked at him mock-hurted. "Gibbs!" she very lightly punched him on the shoulder.

"So when do you plan to go?" she asked then.

He looked at his kitchen clock, "It's four thirty, so let's give them half an hour to 'paint my house red'. Coffee?" He held a filled mug out to her.

(A few minutes later)

"Slept well?" Gibbs asked with his trademark smirk as Jaz and Tony finally came down the stairs.

"Gibbs," Tony groaned tiredly while his girlfriend blushed slightly.

"Was just asking," the agent held his hands up, the smirk still on his face.

"So, where's the mob of rascals?" The teen asked, trying to not look as drowsy as he felt.

Meanwhile Ziva had used the time to sneaked up on him. Jaz who saw this had trouble to hold back her laughter but tried her best not to foil Mini-Ziva's plan.

"Rarrr!" The little girl finally hissed loudly as she stood a feet away from Tony, causing him to jump at the sudden noise.

"Argh, bug!"

From the top of the stairs he could hear the other kids snicker.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack," declared Tony as he first tickled her and then picked his giggling friend off the floor, "Your costume is really nice though." He grinned.

"Toda!" Mini-Ziva looked at Gibbs, "Go now?"

The older agent checked the time, "Yeah, okay..."

His response immediately triggered the other children to join them downstairs. An organized chaos breaking lose as they got ready.

In the middle of this, Abby attached bite marks on Tony and after a brief thought on Jaz' neck as well. "Now it's right!"

"Abby," the teen whined, "Are we supposed to run around with those all night long?"

"I think it's nice," Jaz chirped in, winking at Ziva who had watched the process with a big smile on her face.

"When do you plan to go to that party?" Gibbs asked, with his eyes checking if the kids had everything they would need in the next few hours.

"Around 7 pm."

"Good, I'll make sure we're back half an hour before then." He opened the front door after Abby had signaled him that they were ready, "Make sure that I don't need to clean my house of eggs and toilet paper in the morning."

"But there are also people who trick just for fun!" Tony protested.

Gibbs smirked. "So?"

"We'll take care of it," Jaz answered this time, giving the kids a smile, "Have fun!"

As Abby shut the door behind Gibbs and herself and after they had herded the four children out, she still could hear the playful banter of the teens.

"They'll be alright," she decided silently, before taking Ziva's and Hanah's hand and leading them down the sidewalk as Gibbs kept an eye on the boys, who walked in front of him.

(One and a half hour later)

"Abs, we should head home. Their buckets are getting too full again."

"But Gibbs, Halloween is only once a year. And they have so much fun."

In front of them Ziva, Daniyel and Max took off running down the path to the next house. It hadn't taken them long into their Trick or Treating tour to start ringing the bell by themselves. Which left Abby, Gibbs and Hanah, who had decided that it was safer to stay close to Abby, always a few steps behind them.

The adults had been surprised by the girl's action but didn't mentioned it, since they didn't wanted to make her feel unwelcome or uncomfortable. What mattered was that they always had reached the door themselves, just in time for Hanah to get the same amount of candy, like the rest of the children.

"Believe me, they'll get tired soon. They already have slowed down a great deal. And the candy is enough for months," he whispered to Abby.

"I guess you're right. Stop now or we'll end up carrying them and their candy..."

"Candy?" Max asked interested.

Immersed in their conversation they hadn't noticed that the kids were ready to visit the next house.

Gibbs smiled at them, "We think it's time to head home now. It's getting really late. And you've collected lots of candy." He held up the four plastic bags in which he had filled the contents of the candy buckets as said buckets got to heavy for the children to carry.

"One more," Mini-Ziva begged, her eyes silently pleading with him.

The team leader sighed. "Alright, one and ONLY one house more." "I really need to learn to say no to those eyes..."

"Yay!"

Ziva and her friends quickly looked for their last target. Since it was their last opportunity to get candy, they decided that it must be a good one. No small and cheap looking house, but one which is big with lots of Halloween decoration on and around it.

"They plan this like a military strike," muttered Gibbs as Abby and he trailed this time behind all four children.

"I know! Isn't this cute?" She grinned widely at her boss.

"How much CafPow!'s did you had today?"

Abby didn't answered him but tugged him along as she swiftly closed the gap between them and the kids, "Come on, I don't wanna miss their last strike!"

"Here," the elder lady held a few piece of candy out to Gibbs and Abby, "Such encouragement deserves a treat as well." She pointed to their necks. "And I love that spider thing on your neck my dear. Where did you got that from?"

Abby was about to respond when Gibbs beat her to it, "From the local costume shop." He gave her a smile and shooed the kids back to the sidewalk. "Have a nice evening."

"Gibbs! Why did you lied?" Abby whispered as not to attract the attention of the children.

"Cause she thought that it wouldn't be real and taking this illusion away from her would leave her wondering the rest of the evening of why you did it." He answered in the same low tone of voice.

"'ibbs?"

"Yeah, Ziv?"

"Where home?" The little girl looked around, unsure of where they had ended up. Daniyel, Max and Hanah did the same.

Gibbs grinned, "This way," he pointed to their left, "It's only a ten minutes walk."

(Jaz / Tony)

"It's finally dying down." Jaz whispered as she leaned her head against his shoulder. For the past hour the doorbell had nearly constantly been ringing. Now they sat side by side on the couch in the living room and enjoyed the newly recovered quietness, which had settled over the house.

"I've shut off the porch light," Tony admitted quietly, eliciting his girlfriend to chuckle.

"Why?"

"Too many Trick or Treaters."

"You mean too many kids wanting the candy you guys get to keep if they aren't handed out."

"Treat?" Tony distracted her with handing a candy bar over, smiling devilish as he bite into his own bar.

The peaceful silence however was very short-lived then a moment later the front door burst open.

"We're back!" Abby called cheerfully.

"We know," growled Tony from the couch, slumping against it.

"Be nice," whispered Jaz, smiling at the children and the bags and buckets full of candy. "You had a good time?" She asked them.

"Yay!" Ziva and Abby said at the same time, bursting into laughter soon afterward.

"We got lots of candy!" Max chirped in.

"Tons!" Daniyel agreed, "Can we eat some, Mr. Gibbs?"

"We'll eat dinner soon. You can pick out one piece to eat now. Okay?"

The children nodded.

"A small piece, not the chocolate bars or lollipop." Gibbs added as he saw Max and Ziva eying the biggest piece of candy in their buckets.

"O'tay," came the mumbled reply from his mini agent, causing Gibbs to smirk, "Don't forget to take out the fangs, Ziv." They weren't the cheap ones, which you could easily put in and out of your mouth, but fangs that needed to be customize first and then fit perfectly, without disturbing the ability to speak or eliciting the urge to take them out every few minutes.

"Abs, can you help her and make sure that they all wash their hands and faces? I'll heat up dinner in the meantime."

"Si, El Jefe!" Abby saluted him before shooing the kids under their protest upstairs, "Come on you don't want to eat something with dirty fingers!"

Tony laughed at the scene, "She's good."

"Weren't you going to a costume party in half an hour?" Gibbs looked at the teenager expectantly.

"We decided to go later, around 9." Jaz explained, tugging her feet under herself as she got comfortable on the couch.

"We were sorta hoping to get dinner too?"

Gibbs smirked at Tony, "Wouldn't have let you out of here without dinner anyway."

"Alright, now to you." Abby turned to Ziva after having giving each child a washcloth to scrub their makeup off. While Max only had a fake mustache and Hanah some glitter on their faces, Daniyel's and Ziva's face was covered with a gray or white powder makeup.

"Yucky!" Daniyel exclaimed as he looked at his washcloth after having swept it across his face once.

"Sweep it a few more times over your face, then I'll rinse the cloth for you." Abby grinned at him before she lifted Mini-Ziva onto the counter.

"Do you remembered what to do to get rid of those fangs?"

"Uh huh..."

Abby had explained the technique of customizing and removing the fangs before they had bought them and once more before they had applied them to her teeth earlier. But Mini-Ziva still wasn't looking forward to it.

Tentative she pushed her lower teeth forward against the backside of the fang tips.

"That's good," Abby gently encouraged her, "Just a bit more."

Ziva huffed and momentarily stopped her efforts to touch the fangs.

"Come on, Zee. Try it again. You know it may take a few tries."

The other children watched in fascination, totally forgetting that they were supposed to clean their faces.

"They no wanna." Exclaimed the little girl frustrated but tried it again anyway. This time she was rewarded first with one and then another click. The fangs finally having loosened.

"You did it!" Abby smiled at her. "Now you can wiggle them off," she instructed, watching Ziva's actions carefully to make sure she didn't swallowed them accidentally.

(Downstairs)

"Thanks Jaz." Gibbs called as he steered the soup one last time.

The teenage girl placed the last spoon on the table, "It's the least I can do." She looked over to Tony, who had placed various drinks on the table and then smiled at her before looking past her at the stairs.

"Kids, where are your costumes?" He asked, slightly flustered to see them coming back in their sleepwear. Although Hanah still had her fairy tiara in her hair and Ziva had now Abby's headband on.

"This is more comfy," Daniyel told him matter-of-factly, with Max quickly agreeing with him.

"Everyone hungry?" Gibbs asked as he neared the dinning table with the pumpkin soup and bread.

A mixture of yes, yeah and yay greeted him as everyone took a seat.

(Later on)

Gibbs just had made himself comfortable on his couch, with yesterdays newspaper in hand and enjoying the few minutes of silence while the children played with Abby in Ziva's room, when Hanah came down the stairs.

"Mr. Gibbs?"

"Yeah?"

"I want go home..."

Gibbs momentarily looked at the girl in front of him in silence, "Are you sure?"

Hanah nodded, her lip quivering as she tried not to cry. "Pleawse. Don't feel good. I want my mommy."

"Alright," Gibbs crouched down to be at eye level with his small guest, "I'll bring you home. Just let me call your mother first, so she knows that we're on our way."

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Did you told the others?"

"They're mad." A small tear trickled down her cheek.

"They aren't mad at you. Maybe disappointed that you're going home but not mad."

Hanah sniffed loudly, while Abby slowly descended the stairs. The goth had been looking for Hanah since she had suddenly run out of Mini-Ziva's room.

"Abs, could you help Hanah get ready? I'll be taking her home in a minute. She's not feeling so good." Gibbs quietly asked, a hand reassuringly stroking the girl's back after he had pulled her a bit closer.

"Sure Gibbs."

With a small smile, Abby offered her hand to Hanah and lead her to the front door, while Gibbs went upstairs. Before he would make the call to Hanah's mother, he wanted to check on the other children.

"Hey," he lightly knocked on the open door, causing three heads to snap in his direction. "Everything alright here?" His question was met with silence, neither of the children wanting to talk.

"Hanah told me she wants to go home..." He carefully started, making his way towards the bed where they had build a fort with the help of Abby, blankets, a line and clothespins, "Did something happened up here?"

He regarded them one by one, "Ziv?"

"She..." Ziva broke up, knitting her eyebrows together.

"Nothing happened," Max finally said, "She suddenly didn't wanted to play anymore."

"She wants her mommy," Daniyel added.

Gibbs sighed, "Did you talked to her after she said this?"

"We tried to make her stay but she just ran out of the room." Max huffed.

"Hanah's not feeling well. She asked me if she could go home and I'm gonna bring her there in a few minutes." His eyes rested on Ziva as she played with a corner of a blanket, which they had used for their fort.

"Hanah thinks that you're mad at her. Maybe you could tell her that you aren't. Don't let the evening end like this." Gibbs tried to reason with them, though they kept quiet.

"She's the first time away from home for such a long time. Do you remember when you stayed over at someone else house?"

"I never stayed over before," Max protested, silent adding that he couldn't go home now anyway, 'cause his parents were away for the weekend.

"Daniyel? Ziva?"

"I was sad," the boy muttered as Ziva slowly nodded in agreement.

"So you know how Hanah feels right now. Don't you want to say goodbye?"

"Okay," Max was the first to react, slowly rising and pulling the others up also.

Gibbs breathed a sigh of relief as the three made their way downstairs. A group of sad and maybe even angry children would have been his personal nightmare. Not only would he have to deal with them but he also would be left wondering if their friendship to Hanah would have a crack from now on.

(1 ½ hour later)

"'ibbs?" Ziva asked tentative as she stood in the doorway of his bedroom. With Abby having fallen asleep on the couch, he had retreated to his room in order to let the goth sleep in peace.

"Yeah?" He put his newspaper aside for the second time that day, "You want me to read to you?" He looked at the book in her hands.

"Please."

"Come here," he patted the spot next to him to which Ziva run a moment later, "Where are Max and Daniyel?"

Content, that the kids would keep each other entertained, he had left them alone most of the evening. Only checking on them twice. Once as he returned home about thirty minutes earlier and another time shortly afterward as Tony and Jaz left for the party. He would have laughed out loud at their costumes if Tony hadn't been so serious about the whole James Bond act. And Jaz seemed to have enjoyed herself too, as Tony's or rather James' Bond Girl.

"Ziv?"

"They play wif' Tony's..." She frowned as she couldn't recall the correct name.

"Game console?" offered Gibbs, putting an arm around her as she snuggled into his side. "Duck was right," he thought as he recalled the M.E.'s words, spoken in the very beginning of this whole 'Mexler-fiasco'. She really needed a lot of reassurance and hugs, as Abby had summed it up

"Uh huh."

"And you?"

"No wanna."

"Alright. So, what did you brought to read?"

Ziva handed Gibbs the book, which she had placed next to her, before snuggling back into his side as the agent opened the book and quietly began to read it aloud.

An hour later he was still reading when the boys came running into his room.

"Hey, you two. You want to join us?"

Upon a chorus of yes', Gibbs lifted Ziva onto his lap as the boys took a place on each side of him.

~ FIN ~